Calderón: Violence is worthy price

Mexican president says fighting necessary to halt cartels

by Alexandra Olson - Sept. 3, 2010 12:00 AMAssociated Press

MEXICO CITY - President Felipe Calderón tried to rally frustrated Mexicans behind his increasingly bloody drug war Thursday, saying he knew violence had surged under his watch, but arguing that it was the price of confronting powerful and brutal cartels.

Calderón delivered his annual state-of-the-nation address two days after his government brought down the third major kingpin in less than a year. But it also came less than two weeks after the massacre of 72 migrants near the U.S. border, which laid bare how freely drug traffickers operate in pockets of the country, no matter how many capos are captured.

"I am well aware that over the past year, violence has worsened," Calderón said. "But we must battle on."

Calderón has struggled to maintain support for a fight that was hugely popular when he first deployed tens of thousands of soldiers and federal police to drug-cartel strongholds across the country in late 2006.

Since then, gang violence has become more shocking, with beheaded bodies hung from bridges and police discovering pits filled with dozens of slain cartel victims. Gangs have employed warfare tactics previously unseen in Mexico, including car bombs and blockades in front of police stations and army garrisons.

Underscoring the point, a shootout later Thursday between soldiers and suspected cartel gunmen in Tamaulipas state, near Texas, left 25 dead.

The gunbattle began after an airborne patrol over Ciudad Mier spotted gunmen in front of a property. When troops moved in on the ground, suspected gang members opened fire. A military spokesman who was not authorized to be quoted by name said the property was a ranch controlled by the Zetas drug gang. No soldiers were killed, but two were injured.

A debate now rages in Mexico: Critics, especially Mexicans who live in the most violent cities, believe the government is losing control. Calderón and his supporters argue the violence is a sign drug gangs are reeling and fighting with each other as their bosses fall one by one.

"If we want a safe Mexico for the Mexicans of the future, we must take on the cost of achieving it today," Calderón said.

Calderón's supporters include the U.S. government, which backs his fight with millions of dollars in aid.

Calderón got a major boost with the capture Monday of Texas-born Edgar Valdez Villarreal, alias "La Barbie," who is wanted in three U.S. states for cocaine trafficking and had turned central Mexico into a bloody battleground as he fought a rival for control of the Beltran Leyva cartel.